Everyone has heard about the diner who claimed to find a fly in his food in order to get a free meal. Until now I believed that restaurateurs suffer more than most when it comes to customer complaints. Today, however, I read that travel specialists around the world have compiled a list of the most bizarre travel complaints ever received. The list, which was released by the ANI news service, featured the following examples:
One travel agent received a complaint from a tourist at a top African game lodge overlooking a waterhole, who spotted a visibly aroused elephant and complained that the sight of this rampant beast ruined his honeymoon by making him feel “inadequate.”
Another wacky complaint had a group of UFO-believers, who were holding a conference at a Novotel hotel, express their fears of being infiltrated by aliens because the locks on the meeting room doors had not been changed.
There was also a complaint filed by a guest at a Novotel in Australia who complained his soup was too thick and strong. He was inadvertently slurping the gravy at the time.
Another Aussie hotel was told by a football star that his hotel room overlooking Sydney’s Manly beach was unsuitable because the sound of the sea kept him awake.
A panic-stricken woman called reception and angrily protested that she was locked in her room. Staff later discovered that the woman, who had never stayed in a hotel before, assumed that the “do not disturb” sign on the inside doorknob meant she should not open it.
According to one British travel company’s survey, some travelers complained of not enjoying going away on holiday because foreigners “didn’t want to speak English.”
Frankly, restaurateurs have it easy.
